Dementors at Spinners End
by Hazpotsfan
Summary: Harry finds himself fighting off Dementors, after leaving the wards of his house - Severus, who is his adoptive Father, is not happy! I have no idea how to get authors notes in the chapters so I shall write it here - Disclaimer: I don't any of this!


Harry was in massive trouble and he knew it. He had gone and done exactly what he had explicitly been told not to, and now he was going to have to face his Father's wrath.

Once his Father had returned home and dealt with the Dementors swarming their neighbourhood, he had gently picked up his unconscious son and nursed him back to health, forcing chocolate and numerous cups of tea down him, before putting him to bed. Harry hadn't really had time to consider what had brought the Dementors to his neighbourhood, in the excitement of everything that happened. He just put it down to one of those things, as he was always telling his Dad, "I don't seek out trouble, things just happen to me!" - not that his Dad would have any of it!

The following morning, the two of them had eaten breakfast in silence, the only noise coming from the rustling of Severus turning pages as he perused the Daily Prophet. Just as Harry was about to get up and leave the table, he had felt his Father's eyes upon him.

"Not so fast young man. I expect you to be waiting for me in your corner of the living room when I arrive." Severus ordered ominously in that uncharacteristically quiet voice of his that normally had his students shaking in their boots.

"Yes Sir", Harry replied quietly looking down at his shoes in an attempt to avoid eye contact, before turning around and heading into the living room.

Harry couldn't help but feel a bit resentful towards his Dad as he ran his finger down the intersection between the two walls; firstly because he didn't feel that he was solely to blame for the situation he had found himself in, and secondly because he was standing in the corner like a bloody toddler.

Severus had been this way for as long as Harry could remember – there was no doubt that he was a truly dedicated and loving Father, but he was a stern disciplinarian all the same. Whenever they argued about it, he would always say, "I will not lose you to one of your dunderheaded antics. If you don't want to get in trouble, why not try abiding by my rules for once, Harry?" Although they didn't speak of it often, Harry knew that his Father was so overprotective because of the way he had lost Lily without a moments notice. Severus had found Harry crying in his cot on that day, when he had gone to investigate, and was always telling his son that he had loved him the moment he had first set eyes upon him as a baby. Harry knew that Severus had strongly disliked James during his schooldays (through a certain incident, that he preferred not to think about too often, where he had snuck into Severus's pensieve) and it warmed his heart to know that Severus was able to put that aside and consider Harry as his own. He could indeed understand that Severus having lost the love of his life had made him extra cautious when it came to his son, the only family he had left; however, that didn't mean that Harry's teenage self appreciated having his Dad constantly hovering over him.

Nearly twenty minutes later, Harry heard his Father enter the living room. "Good to see that you're following my directions for once. You can turn around now, Harry; sit down on the couch please," Severus said sternly.

Once Harry was settled on the sofa, Severus began to lecture him, saying, "I think you know why we're here Harry, so why don't you start by telling me just what the hell you were thinking when you decided to leave the wards after I have told you not to do so, time and time again?" his voice rising with every word.

"Errr… well you see, it's like this…" Harry trailed off towards the end wondering if it would be wiser not to say anything when Severus was so angry.

"Harry, stop stalling and get to the point, what you did yesterday was extremely foolish and if I don't hear an explanation soon, so help me, you'll be standing in that corner for the rest of the day until I do!" Severus snapped, nearing the end of his patience.

"Dad I just wanted out!" Harry burst out. "I've been stuck in this stupid house for over a month now and I needed to get out!"

"Oh really? Have I or have I not let you go flying in the garden every single day Harry James? Or are you going to claim that I've kept you locked in the house, doing homework and chores for the entire holiday like the 'great bloody bat' that I am?" Severus yelled back.

Harry winced as he heard his Dad quote "great bloody bat" back at him. He had not been at all pleased when Harry had come up with that one. Harry could almost feel his ears ringing in remembrance of the lecture he had received about respect that day.

"Yes Dad, you have let me out to fly, but I really didn't think anything would happen if I left the wards for five minutes!" Harry replied trying to calm his Dad down, but apparently that was the wrong thing to say.

"Do you think I make rules just to hear myself speak, Harry? Once again you got some imbecilic plan in your head and decided to follow through, without any thought of the consequences. I have lost count of the number of times we have been in this same position, and I have had it!" he yelled, grabbing Harry by the shoulders and shaking him slightly, in an attempt to make him understand his foolishness.

As Harry listened to his Dad lecture, he grew angry at Severus's seemingly lack of regard for the fact that his son was no longer a baby. Later he would wonder why he had ever thought it would be a good idea to yell back at his dad, the formidable head of Slytherin who had caused many students to burst into tears with a mere glance.

"Yeah, well, it's not all my fault, Dad! You promised that you would come flying with me, but once again Dumbledore had to stick his big nose through our floo and you just dropped everything, as always, so you could do whatever he fucking needed! What makes him so special anyway?" Harry shouted jumping up from his seat.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted them. If there was one thing that his Dad couldn't stand, it was when he shouted back at him, and on top of that, he had just sworn at him! He could practically see the smoke coming out of his Dad's ears as he tried to take a calming breath, lest he throttle his son. Before Harry even realised what was happening, he felt himself spun around and on the receiving end of two smacks.

"Ow!" Harry yelped as he tried to rub the sting out of his backside. Severus, however, had other plans for his son, as he frog-marched Harry back to the corner and said, "Harry James, you will NOT speak to me in that manner again or you will be a very sorry young man! Now, you will stand here until you are ready to speak to me with the respect I deserve!" and with that he sat back on the sofa to wait out both of their tempers.

Harry knew that his Dad was extremely angry – in fact he hadn't seen him this angry since he'd entered the chamber in his second year! Severus was always one for encouraging his son to own up to his actions and accepting the consequences, and even knowing this Harry had just attempted to wiggle his way out of some of the blame. It shamed him to know that he had driven his Dad to smacking him, when he hadn't done so since the second year incident. Being smacked when you were fourteen years old couldn't have been any more embarrassing, and even worse was the fact that his eyes were prickling with tears.

"Dad… can I please come out now? I promise that I've calmed down now." Harry asked meekly, ten minutes later.

"Yes, Harry, why don't you sit next to me on the sofa and we'll discuss everything more calmly this time." Severus said sighing and not sounding anywhere near as angry as he had before.

And talk about it they did, with Harry explaining to Severus what he had done wrong and ways in which he could better express his feelings next time. Severus in turn explained to Harry that his duties to the Order sometimes came up out of the blue and that Harry would have to be respectful to Albus, even if he did resent the fact that Albus often interrupted their time spent together. He did, however, promise Harry that he would make more of an attempt to spend time doing things with him during the holidays. Harry even tried to persuade his Dad to his way of thinking, saying that he was too old for the corner, but Severus merely raised an eyebrow and said that if Harry insisted on behaving like he did as a toddler, then he would receive a time-out just as he did then. Harry's cheeks had flamed at the use of the term 'time out' and grumbled about the fact that his Father seemed to have an answer to everything!

"Harry, I do believe we have yet to establish the consequences for the little stunt you pulled yesterday," his Father intoned, his voice going stern once more.

"Yeah, Dad, I know," Harry sighed. As far back as he could remember, as much as he hoped for it, his Dad had never forgotten to dole out punishment after a lecture. "Alright then, let's hear my punishment. Are you going to chop me up and use me in your potions?" Harry asked, a cheeky grin crossing his face.

"Harry…" Severus replied with an admonishing glare at his son, "No, but you may think your fate is far worse than that. You are grounded for the next two weeks and you will surrender your broom to me during that time. Believe me, my boy, I will find you all manner of disgusting tasks to carry out in my potions lab."

Harry groaned. If there was one punishment he hated the most, it was having his broom confiscated – Severus normally reserved this for his more heinous crimes, knowing how much Harry hated it.

"Consider yourself lucky, Harry; I was considering taking your broom away for longer than that, but have decided against it as a result of my possibly having been a bit harsh with you when you mouthed off at me." Severus told him.

Harry's mouth dropped open as he stared at Severus in shock. His Dad never admitted to being too strict with Harry, no matter how many times Harry complained about what he thought of as 'over the top punishments', which would usually just result in Severus replying "would you like to make that three weeks, Mr Snape?"

"Ok, who are you and what have you done with my Dad?" Harry asked, still slightly shocked at what Severus had said.

Severus merely smiled at him and pulled Harry so that his back was leaning up against Severus's chest and said, "Don't push it, my boy! And bear in mind that if you ever swear at me like that again, I have a nice bar of soap in the bathroom with your name on it!"

They ended up sitting together, with Severus cradling Harry's head in the crook of his neck and running his hand through Harry's hair repeatedly, for a long while after that, just talking to one another and spending time together. As they were getting up to go and fix some lunch, Severus pulled Harry to him in a hug, saying "Always remember that I love you, Harry, even if you do drive me up the wall sometimes."

Harry smiled into Severus's robes – no matter how much they fought, they always ended their arguments in the same way. "I love you, too, Dad."


End file.
